Last year, several federal juries in Philadelphia returned the largest ever settlements against drug companies. These lawsuits, which resulted in billions in fines, were spurred by a handful of whistleblowers. WHYY’s Kerry Grens looks at the growing phenomenon of the whistleblower suit.
Antidepressants are supposed to be the magic bullet for curing depression. But are they? I used to think so. As a clinical psychologist, I used to refer depressed clients to psychiatric colleagues to have them prescribed. But over the past decade, researchers have uncovered mounting evidence that they are not. It seems that we have been misled. Depression is not a brain disease, and chemicals don’t cure it.
The marketing team sued over a drug’s alleged side effects tried to suppress key data, an ex-employee has claimed. Seroquel’s former UK medical adviser told the BBC he was pressured to approve promotional material which said weight gain was not an issue. Maker AstraZeneca, which faces fresh legal action next month, said it took concerns about its conduct seriously.
Obesity is an epidemic–or at least a major concern for many Americans. We obsess over diet fads, exercise machines, portion control, and The Biggest Loser, all in an effort to get our ballooning waistlines in check. However, according to some researchers, we are looking in all the wrong places for the reason why we’re so fat. Instead of oversized and calorie-laden fast food meals, at least one expert is starting to wonder if the cause of our nation’s weight gain is prescription psychiatric drugs.
Taking Prozac, Paxil, or other antidepressants from the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can cause delays in lactation in new mothers and difficulty in breast-feeding newborns, a new study says. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati found SSRIs can result in delayed secretory activation after giving birth. SSRIs regulate the hormone serotonin in the body to stave off depression, but the hormone also is crucial to the breasts’ ability to deliver milk when it is needed, the study’s authors said.
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